Paper fastening device



H. J. JEWELL 2,749,816

PAPER FASTENING DEVICE June 12, 1956 Filed March 15, 1954 /NVE/V 70R //owA RD J JEWELL A rraemsys United States Patent PAPER FASTENING DEVICE Howard J. JeweH, N oranda, Quebec, Canada Application March 15, 1954, Serial No. 416,341

Claims priority, application Canada January 26, 1954 1 Claim. (Ci. 931.1)

This invention relates to a device for fastening superimposed sheets of paper to one another by punching a major segment of a circle (or similar configuration) from each of the sheets and folding the punched segments (or similar configurations) back through substantially 180 degrees, the segments or the like each having a portion of greater width than the length of the line along which it is folded back.

My novel device is a paper fastener of the type which utilizes the paper itself to constitute the attaching means for the sheets, as opposed to making use of an auxiliary fastening element such as a metal clip, staple, or the like. Various machines of this type have been made in the past, an example being G. P. Bumps United States Patent No. 1,065,904, of June 24, 1913. The prior art devices of this type have been rather complicated in construction and therefore expensive, had many points of potential failure because they made use of a rather large number of working parts (since they featured a combined tongue cutting, slitting, and tongue-threading operation), and were too bulky to be handily carried in the users pocket. As a net result of these disadvantages the devices of the prior art failed to develop any permanent place for themselves in the market.

In a preferred embodiment of my invention these disadvantages are overcome by punching out, of a foldedover corner portion from the super-imposed sheets be ing fastened, a major segment of a circle with a simple punch which automatically positions the segment for secure locking at the shoulders when the papers are removed from the device.

The paper fastening device of my invention is of simple inexpensive construction, is very compact, and can have little go wrong with it since there are only three separate parts in the complete device.

The invention may be generally defined as a device for attaching sheets of paper to one another comprising a frame member formed from a single strip of metal transversely bent through substantially 90 degrees at four points intermediate its ends so as to form a four-sided, generally rectangular member and an open-ended recess having two parallel sides, the parallel sides of the recess being formed by the opposite end portions of said strip, the parallel sides of said recess being spaced apart sufficiently to permit the insertion therebetween of a foldedover corner portion of a plurality of sheets of paper; a pair of aligned holes of equal size in the parallel sides of said recess; and a hole in the side of said rectangular member opposite said parallel sided recess, the latter hole being aligned with, but smaller than said pair of holes; a shearing punch reciprocably mounted in the three aligned holes, said punch having a shearing face which extends thereacross at a marked angle to the sides forming the open-ended recess, the side of the punch nearest the open end of the recess being the longest side of the punch, said punch being shouldered to prevent its withdrawal through the smaller of the three aligned holes; a head on said shearing punch at the end opposite the angularly disposed shearing face; and a compression spring mounted on said shearing punch and bearing against the upper side of said rectangular member and the under side of said head, said spring biasing said punch so as to normally occupy a position in which the shearing face is held clear of said recess and the shoulder on the punch bears against the side of said rectangular member opposite said parallel sided recess.

In drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention:

Figure 1 is a perspective view,

Figure 2 is a cross-section taken along the line 2-2 in Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view which is rather similar to Figure 2, but shows the device being used to attach a plurality of paper sheets to one another, and

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view showing two sheets of paper which have been attached to one another by means of the device of the invention.

As may be seen in Figure 1 the paper fastening device consists of a frame member, generally indicated by reference numeral 10, a shearing punch 11, and a compression spring 12 which urges the shearing punch to occupy its inoperative position. The frame member 10 is formed from a single strip of metal transversely bent through substantially degrees at four points intermediate its ends. This bending of the strip of metal provides a foursided generally rectangular member and an open-ended recess having two parallel sides, the parallel sides of the recess being formed by the opposite end portions of the strip of metal. The four sides of the generally rectangular member have been labeled 14, 15, 16 and 17, in the drawings, and the end portion of the strip which, in conjunction with side 14, forms the parallel-sided recess, is designated 18. Reference numeral 19 indicates the recess itself; and 20 its open end. The sides 14 and 18 of the recess are spaced apart sufiiciently for the insertion therebetween of a folded-over corner portion of a plurality of sheets of paper.

In the illustrated embodiment the shearing punch 11 has a circular head 21, an upper portion 22 of square cross-section, and a lower portion 23 of circular crosssection. There is a marked shoulder 24 at the point where these two sections meet, since the circular portion 23 is of greater diameter than the width of the square portion 22.

There is a square hole 25 in side 16, and circular aligned holes 26A and 26B are located in sides 14 and 18 respectively, holes 26A and 2613 being of the same size. The holes 25, 26A and 26B are suitably sized to permit reciprocable mounting of the shearing punch 11 therein with the square upper portion 22 riding in the square hole 25, whereby rotation of punch 11 with respect to the frame member 10 is ruled out.

Compression spring 12 is mounted upon upper portion 22 and bears against the head 21 and the side 16 of frame 10, thus urging the punch to occupy an inoperative position in which the lower end of the punch is held just above the recess 19, the shoulder 24 bearing the lower surface of side 16.

Punch 11 has a shearing face 27 which extends there across at a marked angle to the parallel sides 14 and 18 which form the recess 19. The direction of angularity of the shearing face 27 is such that the longest side of the punch 11 is nearest the open end 20 of the recess 19. The upper portion 22 of the punch 11 is of a length which permits the angular shearing face 27 to partially, but not completely, enter the hole 268 in side 18 when the punch has been fully depressed by pressure applied to its head 21, i. e. when the head has been depressed to the point where spring 12 has been fully compressed, as indicated in Figure 3.

To use the device to attach sheets of paper to one another, the sheets are superimposed and, at one corner, the sheets are folded over through 180 degrees, preferably along a line which forms an angle of about 45 degrees with the edges of the sheets. The folded-over corner portion is .then inserted in the recess 19 and the punch 11 is depressed fully causing shearing face ii to punch a major segment of a circle 29 (see Figures 3 and 4) from the paper sheets. A .complete circle is not punched out since, as mentioned above, the length of punch portion 22 is insufficient ,to permit the shearing face 27 to com- 'pletely enter the hole 26B. Once the segment 29 has been punched pressure is removed from the head 21, whereupon spring 12 restores the punch to its inoperative (Figure 2) position. The sheets of paper and the device are then separated from one another, during which action the segment 29 is tripped by .the walls of the hole 26 and folded backward through something-approaching 180 degrees along .a line 30 which is the peripheral chord of the segment 29. Theoretically, the segment 29 should then lie in the position shown in Figure 4-. In actual practice, once the device has been withdrawn, the springiness of the paper will cause the segment 29 to rotate out of parallelism with the paper. However, such rotation is not serious since, even where it occurs to a very marked degree, the sheets will still be found to .be securely joined to one another by the punching and folding actions they have been subjected to, and the fact that segment 29 has a maximum width which is greater than the length of the line along which it was folded back.

The embodiment of the invention described above and illustrated in the drawings is merely exemplary; and the device could take a variety of different forms. For example, upper portion 22 of punch 11, and hole 25 in side 16, need not be square. Any matching multilateral form would suffice since the only essential requirement is the ruling out of rotation of the punch 11 With respect to the frame 10. Furthermore, the portion 23 of punch 11 need not be of circular cross-section, but might well be in the form of an ellipse or a major segment of a circle, or it might even be ofheart shaped cross-section.

What I claim as my invention is:

A device for attaching sheets of paper to one another comprising a frame member formed from a single strip of metal transversely bent through substantially degrees at four points intermediate its" ends so as to form a foursided, generally rectangular member and an open-ended recess having two parallel sides, the parallel sides of the recess being formed by the opposite end portions of said Strip, the parallel sides of said recess being spaced apart sufficiently to permit the insertion therebetween of a folded-over corner portion of a plurality of sheets of paper; a pair of aligned holes of equal size in the parallel sides of said recess; and a'hole in the .side of said rectangular member opposite said parallel sided recess, the latter hole being aligned with, but smaller than, said pair of holes; a shearing punch reciprocably mounted in .the three aligned holes, said punch having a shearing face which extends thereacross at a marked'angle to the sides forming the open-ended recess, the side of the punch nearest the open end of the recess being the longest side of the punch, said punch being shouldered ,to prevent its withdrawal through the smaller of the three aligned holes; a head on said shearing punch at the end opposite the angularly disposed shearing face; and a compression spring mounted on said shearing punch and bearing against the upper side of said rectangular member and the under side of said head, said spring biasing said punch so as to normally occupy a position in which the shearing face is held clear of said recess and the shoulder on the punch bears against the side of said rectangular member opposite said parallel sided recess; the portion of said punch between said head and said shoulder being of a length which permits the angular shearing face to partially, but not completely, enter the outer member of the pair of aligned holes when the punch has been fully depressed by pressure applied against the head thereof.

References Cited in the -file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 254,532 Childs Mar 7, 1882 917,739 Owens Apr. 6, 1909 1,173,119 Pepper et al Feb. 22, 1916 1,306,920 Miller June 17, 1919 1,447,000 Wilson Feb. 27 1923 1,987,176 Biggert Jan. 8, 1935 2,479,028 Stoneham ,Aug. 16, 1 949 

